Gate Incident
From Cowboy Bebop: Space Cowboy
In 2021, a flaw in the gate system, which was later found out to be know by and covered up by the Gate Cooperation, caused a massive explosion of the then recently constructed Earth Hyperspace Gate. The explosion bathed the Earth's surface in radiation and destoyed a large portion of the moon. The resulting debris destroyed most surface cities and killed a large percent of the population. The result was a mass exodus from Earth. Humanity spread throughout the solar system almost overnight, terraforming and colonializing planets and moons as they went. Mars quickly became the center of human population due to its proximity to Earth's location and general climate. A small number of people, mostly the poor, never left Earth. They live underground in order to keep safe from the meteors that constanly bombard the surface.
